Muhammad Ali Goes to Mars: The Lost Interview sounds as awesome as you’d imagine

My work is done just typing “Muhammad Ali Goes to Mars,” but here’s a little context.

Back in 1966, a then 17-year-old Michael Aisner kept calling the gym where Ali was training to land an interview with The Champ. Aisner finally got some face time with Ali at his fan club headquarters in inner Chicago, where Ali chatted about his love of the sweet science and one whopper of a science fiction tale — his long trip to Mars to fight for the intergalactic boxing title.

“There were two huge loves of my life at the time: astronauts and Muhammad Ali,” says Aisner, now 63, at Tumblr Storyboard. “So here is Ali doing a routine that has to do with him going to Mars — there wasn’t anything that could have been cooler.”

No matter their context, Ali’s words always paint the boldest of pictures. His Martian bout is no exception, but you can’t go wrong with the images that accompany this lost interview, especially when they reap such glorious Ali GIFs like this one: